Cooling bed



April 14, 1964 Filed May 5. 1961 E. T. PETERSON COOLING BED 2Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Oiilce 3,128,651 Patented Apr. 14,1964 3,128,651 CUOLING BED Edward 'I'. Peterson, Reading, Pa., assignorto Brdsboro Corporation, Birdshoro, Pa., a corporation of PennsylvaniaFiled May 5, 1961, Ser. No. 107,981 4 Claims. (Cl. Sii-42) The presentinvention relates to cooling beds of the type which manipulate work barssuccessively over a notched bar section.

A purpose of the invention is to provide a more simple and inexpensivemechanism for operating the notched bar section of a cooling bed.

A further purpose is to reduce the amount of head room required beneatha cooling bed for the operating mechamsm.

A further purpose is to render a cooling bed more sturdy and reliable inservice and reduce the need for maintenance.

A further purpose is to provide one set of relatively stationary notchedbars and one set of notched bars which move horizontally bythe actionbetween tracks and rollers and which move vertically by the action ofthe bellcranks.

A further purpose is to support rollers on cross beams and to hold thecross beams in vertical position as they are raised and lowered byparallel linkages.

A further purpose is to mount levers on moving cross beams for movingthe movably notched bars horizontally.

A further purpose is to provide a connecting rod which accommodatesmotion of one end pivot in a plane not parallel to the instantaneousdirection of motion of the other end pivot.

A further purpose is to provide a connecting rod which will accommodatenormal construction misalignment and misalignment due to unequal thermalexpansion of the supporting structure Without binding in operation.

Further purposes appear in the specification and in the claims.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate one only of the numerousembodiments in which my invention may appear, selecting the form shownfrom the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactoryoperation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

FIGURE 1 is a section of a cooling bed of the invention in the directionparallel to the length of the notched bars.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary section on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary section on the line 3 3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary section of the cross beam, the section beinggenerally longitudinal and taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 5 is a section of the cross beam on the line S-S of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragment of FIGURE 1 showing the sphericalbearing.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary View taken on the line 7-7 of FIGURE l,illustrating the mechanism for driving the lever arms 5t).

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to thedrawings:

The present invention is concerned with an improved operating mechanismfor a notched bar cooling bed. The invention is designed to produce arelatively inexpensive, reliably low maintenance mechanism, which willoccupy a minimum of space and will thus reduce the cost for preparingfoundations.

The cooling bed, as best seen in FIGURE 1, receives work bars 19 innotch 20 at the left of a notched apron 21 which is adjoining a run-intable, as well known. The stationary set of transferring notched bars 22extends across the cooling bed and the notched bars 22 are supported onbeams 23 from a foundation construction 24.

Interspersed among the stationary notched transferring bars 22 andentering into grooves of the apron are movable suitably notchedtransferring bars 25 which are mounted on supports 26, generallyhorizontal in position, which carry horizontal downwardly disposed rails27 extending in the direction of horizontal motion of bars 25.

The rails are received, supported and guided by flanged rollers 28pivoted at 3l) on opposite ends of cross beams 31 which extend generallyhorizontally beneath the transferring bars.

The cross beams at their opposite ends pivotally connect at 32 withbellcranks 33 which are pivotally mounted at 34 on standards 35supported from the foundation 24. The cross beams are held vertically byparallel linkages. Stabilizing link 36 pivotally connects at one end at37 to the bottom of one cross beam 31 and pivotally connects to thestandards at 38. The distance between pivots 32 and 34 at the top is thesame as the distance between pivots 37 and 38 at the botom and thedistance between pivots 32 and 37 on the right is the same as thedistance between pivots 34 and 3S on the left, so that a parallogram oflevers is formed.

The bellcranks have arms 49, best seen in FIGURE 2, which pivotallyconnect at 41 to connecting rods 42' which extend across the machine andare suitably actuated by connecting rodr42 pivoted at 422 to one of thebellcranks and manipulated by crank drive 423. The pivot 422 to theconnecting rod 42 includes a spherical bearing 424 so that theconnecting rod can correct for misalignment, and a similar sphericalbearing (not shown) is provided at the other end of connecting rod 42'.Each bellcrank 33 has an arrn 33' which carries counterweight 332.

Near the middle of each cross beam 31 there is a vertical pivot 43, bestseen in FIGURE 3, which pivotally mounts a lever 44 which has an arm 45at its upper end which pivotally connects at 46 with connecting rod 47,the opposite end of which pivotally connects at 48 with abutment 49 onthe support 26. Each lever 44 also has an arm 50 which pivotallyconnects at 51 with connecting rods 52 which run from one cross beam tothe next. At one point along their length in series with the connectingrods 52 and connected to the pivots S1 is a beam section 52 of theconnecting rods 52'. Actuation of the connecting rods 52 is accomplishedby a crank drive consisting of a connecting rod 522 which is pivotallyconnected at 523 to the beam section 52 of the connecting rod 52 by aspherical bearing and at the opposite end is pivotally connected at 524to crank pin 525 on crank shaft 526 by a spherical bearing. Thespherical bearings 523 and 524 are similar to that illustrated in FIGURE6 and permit pivoting motion on an axis which shifts as the arm 50 turnsin order to move the cooling bed bars horizontally. The motionillustrated in FIGURE 7 is transmitted to the other lever arms 50 byconnecting rod 52.

It will be evident that if the crank for the horizontal drive and thecrank for the vertical drive are displaced and both have the samerotational speed, a generally circular or elliptical motion can beimparted to the transferring bars 25, such that the material in thenotches will move freely over the crests of the stationary bars and bedeposited in the next notch.

Thus if the crank length and lever ratio for horizontal motion andvertical motion make the horizontal and vertical motion of the movingnotched bars equal, the moving notched bars and the stock resting onthem will travel in a circular path. On the other hand, if thehorizontal motion is greater than the vertical motion, the movingnotched bars and the stock on them will travel in an elliptical pathwith the major axis horizontal. Again, if the vertical motion is greaterthan the horizontal motion, the moving notched bars and the stockresting on them will travel in an elliptical path with the major axisvertical.

This combination of various possible paths is desirable as it makes itpossible to tit in the motion of the bed with various notch proportionsdictated by different kinds of work. It is unusual to obtain thiscombination of possible paths in a cooling bed of such simpleconstruction.

The horizontal drive is capable of operating notwithstanding that thecross beams are moving up and down, and this is a very desirable featureof the device.

In operation, work bars travelling on the cooling bed run-in table arekicked o'f into the rst notch 20 and slide to a stop, the notches beingsuitably chanifered to avoid danger of striking against the end of thebar. At this time the movable transferring notch bars 25 are desirablyin a position below the stationary bars 22. After the work bar 19 hasstopped in the first notch 20, the cooling bed runs for one cycle andtransfers the Work bar to the next notch. It is then just a matter ofrepetition to transfer the work bar 19 to successive notches. Thecooling bed can be operated to run only one cycle and then stop underlimit switch control or it can run indefinitely through repeated cyclesas desired.

In View of my invention and disclosure, variations and modifications tomeet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident toothers skilled in the art, to obtain all or part of the benefits of myinvention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore, claimall such insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope ofmy claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a cooling bed, a rst set of relatively stationary notched barsextending generally horizontally, a second set of relatively movablenotched bars extending generally horizontally and interspersed among thebars of the rst set, a support for the bars of the second set, rails onthe support extending generally horizontally in the direction ofhorizontal motion of the bars of the second set, stationary standards,vertically movable horizontal cross beams adapted to remain horizontalbeneath the rails, rollers on the cross beams engaging the rails, leverspivotally connected at both ends of the cross beams for manipulating thecross beams vertically comprising bellcranks pivotally connected to thestandards at a relatively upper position and pivotally connected to thecross beams near the top, an equalizing link connected to a cross beamnear the bottom and pivotally connected to a lower portion of one of thestandards, the equalizing link being parallel to the bellcrank positionat the top of the lever, a connecting rod and a spherical bearinginterconnecting the connecting rod with one of the levers for actuatingthe levers in unison and means for driving the support horizontally onthe rollers.

2. In a cooling bed, a rst set of relatively stationary notched barsextending generally horizontally, a second set of relatively movablenotched bars extending generally horizontally and interspersed among thebars of the rst set, a support for the bars of the second set rigidlyconnected to the said second set, rails on the support extendinggenerally horizontally in the direction of horizontal motion of the barsof the second set, vertically movable horizontal cross beams beneath therails, rollers at each end on the cross beam engaging the rails, meansfor raising and lowering the cross beams, levers vertically pivoted onthe cross beams, connecting rods pivotally connected at one end to thevertically pivoted levers and at the other end to the supports and meansfor actuating the vertically pivoted levers.

3. A cooling bed of claim 2, in which the means for actuating thevertically pivoted levers comprises crank means and a connecting rodpivotally connected to the crank means on a spherical pivot andpivotally connected to each lever on a spherical pivot.

4. In a cooling bed, a first set of relatively stationary notched barsextending generally horizontally, a second set of relatievly movablenotched bars extending generally horizontally and interspersed among thebars of the rst set, a support for the bars of the second set rigidlyconnected to the said bars, rails on the bottom of the support extendinggenerally horizontally in the direction of horizontal motion of the barsof the second set, vertically movable horizontal cross beams beneath therails, rollers on the cross beams engaging the bottoms of the rails,bellcranks pivotally connected to the opposite ends of the cross beamsnear the top, standards pivoting the bellcranks on horizontal pivots,the pivotal connection of the bellcranks to the standards being at arelatively upper position, an equalizing link pivotally connected to across beam near the bottom and pivotally connected to a lower portion ofone of the standards, said equalizing link being parallel to thebellcrank portion at the top of said bellcrank, means for actuating thebellcranks in unison and thus raising and lowering the cross beams,levers vertically pivoted on the-cross beams, connecting rods pivotallyconnected at one end to said vertically pivoted levers and at the otherend to said supports and means for actuating said vertically pivotedlevers in unison.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS451,175 Worms et al. Apr. 28, 1891 1,027,124 Grith May 21, 19121,834,728 Peterson Dec. 31, 1931 2,067,524 Flaherty Ian. 12, 1937FOREIGN PATENTS 746,917 Germany Aug. 30, 1944

1. IN A COOLING BED, A FIRST SET OF RELATIVELY STATIONARY NOTCHED BARSEXTENDING GENERALLY HORIZONTALLY, A SECOND SET OF RELATIVELY MOVABLENOTCHED BARS EXTENDING GENERALLY HORIZONTALLY AND INTERSPERSED AMONG THEBARS OF THE FIRST SET, A SUPPORT FOR THE BARS OF THE SECOND SET, RAILSON THE SUPPORT EXTENDING GENERALLY HORIZONTALLY IN THE DIRECTION OFHORIZONTAL MOTION OF THE BARS OF THE SECOND SET, STATIONARY STANDARDS,VERTICALLY MOVABLE HORIZONTAL CROSS BEAMS ADAPTED TO REMAIN HORIZONTALBENEATH THE RAILS, ROLLERS ON THE CROSS BEAMS ENGAGING THE RAILS, LEVERSPIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT BOTH ENDS OF THE CROSS BEAMS FOR MANIPULATING THECROSS BEAMS VERTICALLY COMPRISING BELLCRANKS